New to blogging, I’ve made what feels like a full-time commitment, just launching my new blog this month, with about seventeen posts.
I’m also completing @problogger’s 31 Days to Build a Better Blog, and in between writing posts, reading and starting to comment on other posts, promoting my blog, and keeping up with my tweets, I am more and more aware of just how much work social media involves.

I can see why you say, though social media is not rocket science, “…It does take a ton of time…and the only way it’ll work is to have someone within a company take ownership of the platforms and act as both an advocate for the audience as well as the company.”

Social media is not something that organizations can do half-way. I think if you undertake social media, you need to make the full investment and really build relationships right & for the long-term. A superficial or half-hearted attempt at social media would be more detrimental to a company (that is, more insulting to customers’ expectations) than no online presence at all.

If you’re going to do it, do it right, and that’s going to require a dedicated resource, with as you suggest, a lot more than a few extra bullets, tacked onto someone’s existing position responsibilities.

The many tweeters this month, including myself, who are falling behind @problogger’s challenge: “31 Days to Build a Better Blog” (an excellent, excellent intro to blogging, by the way) can now attest to this post’s title “Just as Difficult as it Seems,” though in a follow-up post, we can say, “Still Worth It.”

New to blogging, I’ve made what feels like a full-time commitment, just launching my new blog this month, with about seventeen posts.
I’m also completing @problogger’s 31 Days to Build a Better Blog, and in between writing posts, reading and starting to comment on other posts, promoting my blog, and keeping up with my tweets, I am more and more aware of just how much work social media involves.

I can see why you say, though social media is not rocket science, “…It does take a ton of time…and the only way it’ll work is to have someone within a company take ownership of the platforms and act as both an advocate for the audience as well as the company.”

Social media is not something that organizations can do half-way. I think if you undertake social media, you need to make the full investment and really build relationships right & for the long-term. A superficial or half-hearted attempt at social media would be more detrimental to a company (that is, more insulting to customers’ expectations) than no online presence at all.

If you’re going to do it, do it right, and that’s going to require a dedicated resource, with as you suggest, a lot more than a few extra bullets, tacked onto someone’s existing position responsibilities.

The many tweeters this month, including myself, who are falling behind @problogger’s challenge: “31 Days to Build a Better Blog” (an excellent, excellent intro to blogging, by the way) can now attest to this post’s title “Just as Difficult as it Seems,” though in a follow-up post, we can say, “Still Worth It.”

I totally agree, if the companies are using social media just to sell. If companies use social media to actually build a relationship with their customers, to care enough to say happy birthday to people or recommend a good book or suggest a solution, then people will respond well. I think media companies have an especially good opportunity to use social media to really connect with readers and users and point them in the direction of content that suits their interests and needs. If my local bar / hospital / post office can do the same, I’ll follow.

It does take a ton of time, though, and the only way it’ll work is to have someone with a company take ownership of the platforms and act as both an advocate for the audience as well as the company.

I totally agree, if the companies are using social media just to sell. If companies use social media to actually build a relationship with their customers, to care enough to say happy birthday to people or recommend a good book or suggest a solution, then people will respond well. I think media companies have an especially good opportunity to use social media to really connect with readers and users and point them in the direction of content that suits their interests and needs. If my local bar / hospital / post office can do the same, I’ll follow.

It does take a ton of time, though, and the only way it’ll work is to have someone with a company take ownership of the platforms and act as both an advocate for the audience as well as the company.